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Twilight Station
Twilight Station is the name that was given to an ancient research station that was situated beneath the ice of the moon Europa around the Mobian version of Jupiter. The station was incredibly old as it was built by Humanity in the Mobian universe before their extinction at the hands of the Xorda. It has either been rendered destroyed or isolated thanks to the actions of Doctor Eugene Wei in 3234. Description Twilight Station was a research facility that was built 9246 BCE by the Gregorian calendar, which makes the entire facility 12,485 years old as of the current date. Records of Twilight Station are incredibly hard to find if not impossible due to the station's extreme antiquity. It was established before the invasion of the Xorda and could quite possibly be the location where the Emissary of the Xorda was dissected by the ignorant Human researchers who abducted it. It was a very well constructed station that had interwaving designs far into the Europan ice, possibly above the planetary ocean but beneath the surface. Its design was alien, but at the same time very much Human in its aesthetics and functions. It is impossible to gauge a true comparison in its technology compared to Earth's own universe as very little knowledge of this other Human civilization exists. The facility was large enough to hold hundreds of researchers which implies that the station itself was less of a research facility and more of a city isolated from Earth. It was also equipped to be a medical facility with advanced stasis technology that could keep occupants of said stasis pods alive for indefinite amounts of time, even for millennia. That being said, it is possible that the technology of this univerese's Humanity may be superior to the UNSC's version in some respects. The station, although dormant was always patrolled. Advanced guard robots of intimidating design stalk the halls, still keeping the facility in shape and dealing with intruders should they not have the proper clearance, and despite 12,000 years of abandonment by their masters, they still perform dutily as silent sentinels. Even though the Xorda attacked Earth around the date of 9246 BCE, the staff did not have time to abandon their post. The stasis technology came in useful when the entirety of the scientists, civilians, and maintence personnel went under for the remainder of the crisis, and remained under for 12 millennia. Only an skeleton crew of techs remained awake to monitor Earth to see if there was any sign of life from their homeworld. Eventually, they too either turned to the stasis pods, or died, lying somewhere else deep in the facility as preserved corpses, possibly even still clad in their uniforms. Recent History Even though the history of the station has extreme length in history, it was not undiscovered forever. After thousands of years, it was discovered by the Terra Novans - colonists from UNSC-controlled Earth, stranded in this new universe in 2290 - during their exploration of this new solar system. It was discovered by accident during scans of the Galilean Moons, with the scientists showing considerable interest in its age and origins. During their exploration of the facility, they discovered what came of the staff, but they were reluctant in trying to wake them up seeing as they didn't have any idea how the facility worked which meant that the Terra Novans were occupying a tomb. Regardless, reseach would continue in Twilight Station. The Terra Novans saw that a certain species of the proto-Mobians, the Echidna, were evolving at a considerably faster rate than any of the other species back on Terra Nova. Here in Twilight, away from the ethics of the homeworld, decided in using some of the technology of the station to good use. The scientists discovered leaps and bounds about bridging the gap between man and machine using the super-intelligent Echidna for their experiments. After decades of using Twilight's technology and their own prowess, they created a hybrid of living and technological minds - The One, a collective intelligence of all of the Echidna. What they saw was beyond their wildest dreams, and it frightened them. However, the One was too smart for them, cutting off communications that it felt were unecessary. The scientists found they were were indeed working for the betterment of technology, but much of it was for the One's benefit. However, the One did see that work for the homeworld was also important, so it 'allowed' communication when it felt that it could reap the benefits. Disaster struck in the late 2300s when the first sign of Darwin's Plague started to appear in the system - a rapid degeneration of cells that had slowly been affecting colonist generations until the victims became too weak to live. Some died through cancer-like symptoms, some through weakened immune systems, and some through outright decay from the inside out. The staff tried searching through every data entry that the staff had written during the facility's use, but none of them could find anything related to the plague, which was named after the nineteenth century British naturalist, Charles Darwin, who believed species best suited to their environment would survive over those that could not adapt. It seemed that Humanity could not adapt, as their research would not prove useful. Even the One, in all its wisdom and intellect, could not find a solution, but kept working dillgently, deciding not to contact Humanity on Terra Nova. Terror and panic would not help anybody. Some of the staff, who had started dying off from the causes mentioned above, had contimplated trying to wake the ancient staff, who were still in their slumber, though a large portion of a rivaling faction decided against it, citing that even if they did wake them up, what answers would they have? The scientists consulted the One and asked for its advice. In its words, it said, "Let the sleeping lie. You have been judged and have been found wanting." From there, it closed down all communications with Terra Nova. The scientists were trapped with no way to escape to warn the rest of Humanity. The One believed that there was no point or benefit to either it nor Humanity. Information would only sow panic in the populace. In its mind, the One cared for Humanity, and advised the scientists to make their way to their own stasis pods. Some accepted. Others tried to escape. The One cut them down through its own means. One in particular, Edwin Shabbat was killed while trying to send a message to Terra Nova. His body lay at his post for hundreds of years and lay as a warning to the other surviving scientists, who either submitted to the One's will, or chose to die free. By 2340, there was not a single Human breathing in Twilight Station. Once again, the station was silent. But the One was still awake. It kept itself occupied thinking for hundreds of years on everything. Human history, Art, Music, Philosophy, Astronomy, and Quantum Physics were not off limits to this superintelligence. Everything from Plato to Nietzsche to Hawking to the most modern source was analyzed. Even then, the One found that it was running out of things to contemplate. It needed to think of something new. It needed to escape. 894 years later, it found its way out, which proved to be a surprise for it. In 3234, A new Human ship, the UNSC Ponce de Leon was found looking around Europa for the same mysterious signals that the Terra Novan scientists discovered almost a thousand years prior. Eventually, they found the facility and sent a team to investigate. Doctor Eugene Wei, Doctor Richard Garrett, Doctor Qek Tea Moq, and Petty Officer 3rd Class Miles Prower had gotten inside the facility and marvelled at its ancient structure, just as the Terra Novans did before. However, they came across the One. The One spoke to them - and explained that it was their intention to leave, and 'make all One' in the end. This was something that the scientists did not wish to help it with, and despite the arguments of his peers, Doctor Wei enraged the One by trying to wake an ancient woman, to which the One responded by killing her. Running for their lives, the group managed to escape Twilight Station, but not before Dr. Wei had set the station's power core to detonate, causing a massive explosion and eruption of Europan ice into space and the complete powering down of the station, with the only exception being the One. Unbeknownst to him at the time, Doctor Wei had ensured the deaths of all of the staff members from multiple time periods as they lay in stasis, leaving the One to be stranded alone amongst a tomb. The station itself was still structurally intact though, just without the energy that kept the power and atmosphere intact. With the station crippled and the One trapped seemingly for all eternity within this icy grave, this ancient window into the past, and a possible bounty of information would be lost for all eternity. Twilight Station may be explored in the future as its location has been kept recorded by members of the Ponce de Leon crew, the One may not be so inviting this time around. EVentually, it will go mad from isolation, further believing itself to be a god among bones. Without any new information to process, nothing to think about, and without a way to escape and learn, its spiral into insanity would be complete. Appearances *Journal of Sally Acorn (First Appearance) Category:Locations